I ran my experiment for a little over two weeks. After more than two weeks of driving a max of 70 on the highway and slower acceleration in an attempt to raise my gas mileage, I’ve got the results. The driving was a bit grueling at times, especially when the starting speed speed limit is 70 on the highway. I managed to do it for a little more than two weeks and finally filled up my gas tank a little before I ran it to the bottom. After all that I gained about 1 mpg. I guess I won’t be driving that slow anymore. Apparently it really depends on the vehicle. I imagine an SUV or truck would see a larger increase from slowing down due to the larger wind resistance. I drive a 2008 Accord V6, so I guess it’s somewhat aerodynamic.

I’m on day three of my wind resistance versus fuel consumption experiment. The drive is not so bad, the worst day was really the first. By looking at my fuel guage and the current mileage on the tripometer, It appears that I’m getting better mileage than I normally do. I think I may extend this experiment out a week or two just to get a better average.

Day two of my gas mileage experiment. See ->http://blog.buckrobinson.com/rants/mpg-experiment/

The mornings seem to be the toughest. I’m always in a hurry to get to work, but afterwards it’s not so bad. I found the station guide for my XM satellite radio and tuned into CNBC. It gave me time to listen to what I would normally watch as soon as I get home. I’ve been using cruise control to keep it dead at 70 MPH. Occasionally I have to slow it down because I can’t pass without going well over my target speed. That part is driving me a little nuts, but maybe I’ll get over that too.

I’m doing an experiment for the next week. I want to know how much gas I save by slowing down a little on the highway.
I usually cruise at around 85-95 mph, but this week I’m topping out at 70. Because I’m only doing 70, I don’t have to speed up and down as much to get around the morons driving slow in the left lane. This may affect my mileage more than the extra wind drag created by the speed.
Driving into work today sucked. I’m just so used to driving at a higher speed that it felt like I was putting along. I don’t think I arrived much later at work though. Granted, I don’t work that far from my home. A longer trip could definitely affect the time it takes when moving a slower rate of travel.
I imagine that I’ll get used to traveling at just the speed limit after a while. At the end of the week I’ll fill up and calculate my mileage. I’m starting out @ 23 MPG combined city and highway. I won’t be changing my routine so the results should be comparable.